Spiritual Warfare: Part 7 - The Sword of the Spirit

0:25 I'm in a series on spiritual warfare. How many of y'all realize that we are in a spiritual battle? It is. And so we've learned a lot. Today is part seven of this series from Ephesians chapter six. So if you have your Bibles, turn to Ephesians chapter six. And we're going to talk about... Number seven. Allow me to take a moment to read verses 10 through 17 of Ephesians 6. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

1:34 Therefore, verse 13, take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, somebody say above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Amen. So we're on part seven today and we're going to talk about the sword of the spirit. Say that, the sword of the spirit.

2:26 We've gone through all these different parts of armor. God's Bible tells us Paul's talking to the church in Ephesus and he's communicating to us how to engage in spiritual warfare. So we've learned that we're not fighting against flesh and blood. It's not another person that we're arguing with or fighting with. It is a spirit behind the person to do the things that they do. What we don't want to be is to be influenced by the enemy to make us behave in ways that are influenced by the devil. Go ahead, tell your neighbor, don't let the devil influence you. Some of y'all need to go ahead and tell the person who just said that to you, I already let him influence me. So, Paul, we've gone through all of these different pieces of armor, and after all of these, now this is important, after all of this armor that we've gone through, we finally come up upon the first offensive weapon.

3:33 As a matter of fact, the sword is the first and only offensive weapon. As a matter of fact, a sword can be either an offensive weapon or a defensive weapon. It can be one, it can be both. It can be either or. It can be offensive or defensive. So here we finally have a place where he tells us how we are able to inflict damage on the enemy and how we're able to defend ourselves with this one thing called a sword. Now back in that day, the swords came in two types. There could be a big old cumbersome sword that you would use, or it could be a small dagger kind of a thing, sort of a small knife, short that you would be like a handheld thing that you would have in your hand. And so it could be either or, one or the other.

4:27 The large knife, a large big sword or a large knife or a dagger as it is. y'all know what I'm talking about because some of y'all got pocket knives in your pockets right now so it's defensive or offensive it does both Christians need to learn how to use the sword and then he even tells us here's what I like about this he says the sword of the spirit then he tells us what it is he says which is the word of God some of you have never been able to inflict damage on the enemy. You haven't been able to defend yourself. You haven't been able to win because you don't know how to use the Word of God. Ooh, I said something right there. I don't know if y'all got that. And so, I want to spend just a few moments today talking about the sword and what it looks like and how it operates and what it is and how it applies in your life. So, I'm glad you asked the question. So, I want to look at verse 17. He says, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word, he calls it, the Word of God. Now, what is that?

5:35 Let me tell you, when you read in Scripture the term Word, and you're talking about the Word of God, there are two Greek words to define and explain the Word of God. The first one I want to give you is the word logos, L-O-G-O-S, jot that down, logos. That is, the logos is the entirety of Scripture. It is God manifesting Himself and speaking and communicating to you and I through the Scriptures, through Genesis, through Revelations. It is God's plan taught and shown to us. Often we see it, well, we do see it in the Scriptures, in the written Word. Here's what John 1 and 1 says about this totality of the message that God has given to us. It says in John 1, 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Y'all see that right there? In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.

6:45 When you slide down to verse 14 of that same chapter, John chapter 1, it says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Here's what God did. He said, the totality of my thinking and my message and my heart to you is manifested when I sent Jesus to come to the earth and show you what my overall message is. That's the Logos. Somebody said the Logos in order to show us what it looks like, what the word looks like, what God's message looks like. He says, God sent his son down through forty and two generations and born of a virgin and it became Jesus became the living logos to demonstrate and show us what God's message looks like. So it's important for you and I to know that Logos, to walk with that Logos, to read that Logos, to understand that Logos.

7:42 The problem is a whole bunch of us know everything else but the Logos. We're filling our minds with messages from Snoop Dogg and... Who y'all be listening to? Hello, who y'all be listening to? Don't y'all sit here and lie and look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about. Kim, Beyonce, come on, why y'all? Who? Who?

8:23 Who she said? I don't know what y'all are saying. I can't hear you. But y'all know, y'all know who y'all be listening to. You know their words, but you don't know this word. My wife and I was watching a program yesterday on television last night, and it was about black culture. And they talked about the music, the black culture music of what we listen to. And they bragged on how many of the people they interviewed bragged on how they knew every word of a particular song. And they start quoting every word of a particular song. Can I tell you something? Some of that music that you know the words from beginning to end ain't never done anything to make a difference in your life. matter of fact if the truth be told some of what you listen to took your life down defeated and frustrated you y'all know I'm a temptations man but I had to turn the temptations off because some of the music wasn't edifying wasn't getting me in the right mindset had me thinking negatively and bad, you know.

9:34 Cloud, you can be what you want to be. Cloud, you ain't got no responsibility. What? Hey, y'all do know Cloud 9 is about drugs. Y'all do know that, right?

9:58 Oh, y'all didn't know that? Listen to the words. Yeah. Some of the things that you filled your mind with is not the logos. It's not the life. It's not the Word of God that gives you life. Y'all got to put Beyonce and Snoop Dogg and whoever y'all, Luther Vandross at the 8 o'clock service day. We listen to Luther. Luther, we hear his music. I say, well, if Luther come out with some new music, we got a problem. I don't want to hear that music that he come out with. So this makes all the difference in the world. Let's look at Hebrews 4.12.

10:52 Let me read this to you. Here's Hebrews 4.12 talking about the logos. Y'all got that? Logos. For the word of God, the logos of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That word is so sharp and powerful, it can go in and reveal what your motives and what your intentions are.

11:25 And some of you have been defeated because you don't know the Logos. You don't know the word. You don't read the word. It's not a part of your life. You got a bottle sitting on your coffee table, but you don't ever open it up and read it. Go on and preach, Pastor. I'm doing the best that I can. But that Word is quick and powerful, living and sharp and able to bring life and deliverance and victory to you. That's the Logos. It's a pattern of my life to read the Word every day. It's a pattern of my life to memorize Scripture and to know the Scripture because it brings victory in your life.

12:05 Somebody say, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. and it'll give you life. So that's what we try to do in our church to put it in. So that's one word. That's one Greek word. There's two in the Bible when it uses the word. One is logos. The other one is rhema, R-H-E-M-A, rhema. Write that down. Somebody say rhema. Rhema. Now what is rhema? Rhema is when God speaks to you through his word to address a specific particular situation that you're in or to give you a particular direction. Somebody say, Rhema. It's when God gives you an utterance. It's when God speaks. The best way I know to describe it, this is the best way I know to describe it of how God has used it in my own life is when God takes a scripture that I have read a thousand times, but all of a sudden I read it today and I see something that I have not seen before.

13:12 Somebody say that's a rhema word. That's when God takes you to a place in scriptures and open your eyes to see something. And all of a sudden, it's like that verse jumped off the pages, grabbed you by your collar, smacked you across your face, and you get a application from it in your life that you didn't even think you would ever be able to get. Now, some of y'all ain't never had that experience. You ain't never had a rhema word because you're not regularly in the Word. You don't read the Word. You don't know the Word. You're not walking in the Word. It's not a part of your everyday life. In order for you to get a rhema of Word, you got to be in the Word. You got to be reading the Word. You got to know the Word. But I'm here to tell you that the God we serve is more than capable of speaking to you about your particular situation and what drama you're in and give you clarity of direction of what He wants you to do, where He wants you to say, how He wants you to handle.

14:08 He will speak to you. I give an example of that. When I first became the pastor, I discovered and learned that right up the street from our old, old property in 3311 Brightsheet Road, right up the street was a piece of property for sale at 3600 Brightsheet Road. It was the old Heckinger home improvement store. I think Heckinger's has gone out of business.

14:46 They all probably gone out of business. And they were selling this one, the building that became our ministry center, they were selling that property. And so we made an offer to them. I felt led to go ahead and make an offer to them. So we made an offer to them. And they said, well, you know, the property is owned by the family. and if you wait a few months, then we think we can sell it to you cheaper. So we gave them a deposit, made an offer, and we waited for months. Months we waited. And then finally, when they finally got back to us, they said, we have received another offer from another church, and they've offered us more than you're offering. And if you want the property, you're going to have to either match their offer or come up to offer us more than they offered.

15:41 Look at your neighbor and say, thank God the pastor didn't cost that day. Did y'all say thank God I didn't cuss that day? That day. And I was upset because they had held our money all that time. And I didn't know what to do. So I started driving around looking for another property.

16:16 And here's what God did. He took me to 1 Samuel chapter 30. and I was reading 1 Samuel 30 and God spoke to me and gave me a rhema word and the rhema word he gave me was pursue.

16:36 Y'all not hear what I'm saying either there. Pursue. Don't just give it up. Just don't walk away. Pursue and that's what I did. I requested a meeting with Mr. Heckinger's. y'all ain't hear what I'm saying to you I requested a meeting with Mr. Hackages and I went and met with the other church that made an offer on the property see when God tell you to do something you gotta do everything God tells you to do y'all not hear what I'm saying to you today y'all be picking and choosing y'all be trying to work it I pursued it and guess what we bought that building we've paid off that building we built out that building and you know what's significant about that? That building played a critical role in us being where we are today. If we didn't have that building, we wouldn't be able to be in this building.

17:28 Y'all not hear what I'm saying? How many of you know that every step of you being obedient to God where you are leads you to the ultimate place that God's trying to get you to? And some of you will never get to the place God wants you to do and be and get to because you won't be obedient with what he already told you to do. Somebody look at your neighbor and say, just be obedient to the rhema word he gave you for right now. and that was the rainbow word God gave to me, pursue, so I went and talked to the Hechanger family, and I went, and I talked to the other church, and we bought that building, and we rebuilt out that building, and we paid off that building, and thanks be to God, thank the Lord, we done moved here and paid off this place too. Can I get an amen anywhere in this building? Look at this.

18:23 Tell your neighbor. A rainbow word is a specific utterance from God to you, a specific thing. That's why walking with God is very important. Communing with God, being in his word is very important. I'm not telling you you have to read the whole Bible every day, but just open it up somewhere and let God speak to you, and every now and then God will speak to you and call something that you're reading to jump off the pages and smack you in your face and give you clarity of direction of what God wants you to do. Do y'all hear what I'm saying to you today? Go ahead and thank God if you hear what I'm saying to you. That's a rainbow word.

19:16 Jesus models this for us in Matthew chapter 4. Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4. I'm almost finished. I cannot take my time. Come at 12 and tell me to take my time at 12. I got eight minutes to get through this last 20 minutes of this little message. Matthew chapter 4, Jesus models for us. And I'm going to read verses 1 through 11. Can y'all hang with me for just a second? Then Jesus, verse 1, was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry. Now when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread. Verse 4, but he answered and said, it is written.

20:12 Stop. Stick a pen right there. This is him modeling for us the rhema word he had. He quoted back to him the scriptures. He says, it is written. See, some of y'all will never get the victory in life because you're quoting what Oprah said. What Oprah said ain't ever delivered nobody. But when Jesus gives you a word and he says, he says, it is written, verse four, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That was a rhema word that was a specific word to address a specific situation that he was dealing with, that he was in, where the devil was tempting him and asking him and telling him and suggesting to him that he would turn these stones into bread.

21:12 And Jesus responded with the rhema word is written. It applied to this particular situation that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Verse 5, then the devil took him up into the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, he shall give his angels charge over you and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, what did he say? It is written, there it is again. He's quoting the scriptures back to, he's quoting the temptation. And some of y'all get the devil tempting you and you'll be trying to defeat the enemy and resist the enemy by your own strength rather than getting a word from God, a rhema word from God, and saying, here's what the Scripture says.

22:07 It is written. You shall not tempt the Lord your God, as he says, verse 7. You shall not tempt the Lord your God, verse 8. Again, the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Now, that devil is a fool. A clown. Because he's going to act like he can offer... to Jesus, what Jesus created.

22:51 Y'all ain't got to say amen, but I know I'm right on that. He thought that he could do that. Again, that's what he did. But Jesus said, verse 10 to him, Away with you, Satan. There it is again. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve. And I forgot to say this at the first service so y'all get the benefit at the second service because after the devil recognized that he was dealing with the word and he was dealing with the Logos and the Rhema. Y'all ain't hear what I'm saying to you today. Verse 11 says, then the devil left him and behold, angels came and ministered to him. When the devil realized that you're going to keep quoting the word back at him, He's going to leave you alone for a while. Somebody say, let me go ahead and talk back at the devil and tell him it is written.

23:49 Somebody say, tell the devil it's written. Whatever he's tempting you, tell him it is written. Whatever he's trying to get you to do, tell him it's written. Here's what the Word says. Here's what the Scripture says. Here's what God's Word says to me. I'm a follower. I'm a disciple. I'm a doer of the Word. I ain't listening to you, devil. You can try to tempt me. You can try to persuade me, but I am persuaded that nothing shall separate me from the love of God. Not trials, not persecution, not anything can separate me from the fact that God loves me and has prepared a life for me. I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but don't let the devil try to pull you aside. Get in that word. Get in that scripture. Get that word in your heart and quote the word back to the devil. Don't let him deceive you.

24:43 Now, I feel tension in the room. I feel tension. Because you don't know the word. But guess what? You just got to start somewhere. start maybe you don't read the scripture every day maybe you know more lyrics to the secular songs and you know the scripture just start to make a change today I'm so grateful in my life, in this section of my life, that God has empowered me and helped me to do everything he's called me to do because the Word is what governs my life. Amen. And God is no respecter person.

25:42 What he has done in my life, he can do the same thing in yours. Who am I preaching to today? Amen. Go ahead, look at your neighbor and say, I'm going to get in the right place. I'm going to get in the right place. Amen. Y'all stand up. I better finish. It's 1059. Because if I don't stop right here, I might go on until 1230. What makes a difference in your life is your willingness to be obedient to what God tells you. Some of you, God gave you a word and you never did anything with it. God gave you a rhema and you didn't do anything with it.

26:39 and the devil defeats you and frustrates you, torments you, and tears you down. And for some of you, God cannot take you to the next level. Here's what I learned about God. He will not take you to the next place until you are obedient with the last thing he told you.